The Imperial Guard of Napoleon: From Marengo to Waterloo |
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advance allies amid approached arms army arrived artillery attack Austerlitz Austria battalions batteries Bessieres bivouac Blucher Bonaparte brave campaign cannon Caulincourt cavalry centre Champ d'Asile charge chasseurs columns commander compelled Consular Guard corps cuirassiers Davoust dead diers Drouot eagles Emperor empire enemy England Europe exclaimed fell field of battle fire foot force forward fought France French French Empire gallop glory grand grenadiers hands head heart honor horse hundred Imperial Guard infantry king King of Rome Lannes latter leon Mamelukes Marengo Marmont ment midst morning Mortier Murat Napo Napoleon never night officers Old Guard Oudinot overthrow Paris passed peace plain poleon rallied ranks regiment replied Republic retreat rolled Russia scene sent shout side soldiers soon Spain squadrons stood swept terrible thousand throne thunder took treaty treaty of Amiens troops vast veterans victory Vive Wagram Waterloo whole Young Guard
Popular passages
Page 247 - Rank after rank went down ; yet they neither stopped nor faltered. Dissolving squadrons, and whole battalions disappearing one after another in the destructive fire, affected not their steady courage. The ranks closed up as before, and each, treading over his fallen comrade, pressed firmly on. The horse which Ney rode fell under him, and he had scarcely mounted another before it also sank to the earth.
Page 216 - The allied powers having proclaimed that the Emperor Napoleon is the only obstacle to the re-establishment of peace in Europe, the Emperor Napoleon, faithful to his oath, declares that he renounces for himself and his heirs, the thrones of France and Italy, and that there is no personal sacrifice, even that of life, which he is not ready to make for the interests of France.
Page 38 - The grenadier Groblin has committed suicide, from a disappointment in love. He was, in other respects, a worthy man. This is the second event of the kind that has happened in this corps within a month. The First Consul directs that it shall be notified in the order of the day of the guard, that a soldier ought to know how to overcome the grief and melancholy of his passions; that there is as much true courage in bearing mental affliction manfully as in remaining unmoved under the fire of a battery.
Page 167 - At length, to break the mournful silence, and to express the sympathy they might not speak, the bands struck up a requiem for the dying marshal. The melancholy strains arose and fell in prolonged echoes over the field, and swept in softened cadences on the ear of the fainting warrior—but still Napoleon moved not.
Page 247 - ... drawn sabre, at the head of his men. In vain did the artillery hurl its storm of fire and lead into that living mass. Up to the very muzzles they pressed, and driving the artillerymen from their own pieces, pushed on through the English lines.
Page 245 - Grouchy, who had been left to hold them in check, followed after. In a moment Napoleon saw that he could not sustain the attack of so many fresh troops, if once allowed to form a junction with the allied forces, and so he determined to stake his fate on one bold cast, and endeavor to pierce the allied centre with a grand charge of the Old Guard — and thus throwing himself between the two armies, fight them separately.
Page 279 - The war, which for eight years has ravaged the four quarters of the world, must it be eternal ? Are there no means of coming to an understanding ? How can the two most enlightened nations of Europe, powerful...
Page 246 - Europe had been put upon the plains of Waterloo to be battled for. The greatest military energy and skill the world possessed had been tasked to the utmost during the day. Thrones were tottering on the ensanguined field, and the shadows of fugitive kings flitted through the smoke of battle. Bonaparte's star trembled in the zenith — now blazing out in its ancient splendor, now suddenly paling before his anxious eye.
Page 75 - This wild gallop of eighty-five miles was long remembered by the inhabitants of the towns through which the smoking cavalcade of the emperor passed. Relays of horses had been provided along the road, and no sooner did he arrive at one post than he flung himself on a fresh horse, and sinking the spurs in his flanks, dashed away in headlong speed.
Page 288 - ... relieve ourselves. Will you or will you not execute the treaty of Amiens? I have executed it on my part with scrupulous fidelity. That treaty obliged me to evacuate Naples, Tarento, and the Roman States, within three months. In less than two months, all the French troops were out of those countries. Ten months have elapsed since the exchange of the ratifications, and the English troops are still in Malta, and at Alexandria. It is useless to try to deceive us on this point. Will you have peace,...